The ponderosa pines growing along China Hat Road in Deschutes National Forest stand as they have for centuries. Although these days, they tower over woods peppered with tarps, tents, trailers and trucks.

The houseless have often sought shelter in the national forest, their campsites making up a kind of impermanent neighborhood. Some vehicles look as though they haven’t budged in months. Other camps suggest more financial security, such as RVs surrounded only by neatly arranged solar panels.

While plenty of campsites are visible from China Hat Road, others lie deeper in the forest, scattered along the many eroded dirt roads winding through it.

This is where you’ll find the trailer of Duayne Dittmer, 58, who will mark three years living here in March. On the last Friday of January, he sat in a folding chair and answered questions in his gravelly voice.

The first six months he lived out here were spent in the tattered tent that still stands next to the trailer, now serving as storage for some of his belongings.

Dittmer has lived in Oregon since the age of 8. Before coming to Bend, he lived in La Grande, the last five years in Section 8 housing. Retired now, Dittmer said his last job was in construction in and around La Grande. Earlier in his life, he owned a video store for several years.

Dittmer seems to be a popular or key figure in his neck of the forest. During the 35 minutes he spoke to The Bulletin, the Apple Watch on his wrist chimed several times, one caller trying to locate another nearby camper.

A few minutes later, a pickup drove up, the driver hopping out and announcing, “Got some food.”

“Cool,” replied Dittmer. While the man was putting the boxes inside the trailer, a woman with him climbed out of the passenger seat and briefly played with Dittmer’s dog.

“People bring stuff by all the time,” Dittmer said. He shares food with others living nearby.

“I’ve just got food and cigarettes and that kind of stuff, things to help out, you know,” he said. “Any canned food I get, I just kind of set it there, and people come in and they’re hungry and stuff, and they get it and eat — something like that. We just kind of do that little thing between us. We’re a little community here, just our little area right here. What we’re doing is homesteading.”

The annual Point-in-Time Count was on Jan. 24, according to Katie De Vito, homeless outreach coordinator for Deschutes County Behavioral Health, one of several agencies providing outreach to people here.

She estimates there are between 175 and 200 people living in this portion of Deschutes National Forest.

Just over the past year, the population “has grown immensely,” De Vito said. “We’ve seen a rise out there for multiple reasons. Different camps getting cleaned up in town and (people) moving out there more. It’s totally different with who you ask, why they’re relocating out there.”

Dittmer, too, brought up the high cost of rents: “It’s just ridiculous, ridiculously out of control. I don’t even know how the heck that you can get that kind of rent. It’s just unbelievable to me.”

The majority of the camping individuals De Vito interacts with are holding down jobs, she said.

“Transportation can be difficult, so there’s folks that are walking the necessary miles a day to get to and from their jobs,” she said. Others are on a set income through Social Security Disability payments, or for one reason or another can’t afford our absurd rent here.”

Many people are “one missed paycheck away from falling into a very similar situation as all of these individuals, especially just with the rising rent and lack of affordability here in Central Oregon,” she said.

Both Dittmer and De Vito said that water and trash removal are two recurring issues in the area.

“Water’s always tough,” De Vito said. “We take it for granted, filling up our water bottles and drinking that for the day. They have to be a lot more cautious of how much they’re using at a time.”

Agencies such as Central Oregon Veterans Outreach regularly deliver water to the China Hat area, and Dittmer and others with running vehicles will also drive into town and bring back water for others.

“I’m fortunate that I have a vehicle to do that with. Some people don’t, so I help a lot of people out getting water and all that kind of stuff, and food and groceries,” he said.

Dittmer isn’t sure what’s next for him.

“I wasn’t really planning on staying here as long as I did, but it’s kind of hard to travel around, so I’ve been just staying here for the meantime,” he said. “I’m just going day by day.”